Discoveries

March 28, 2023

An Ode to Hair

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Ludwig van Beethoven suffered from a variety of ailments throughout his life, including gastrointestinal issues and – most famously – deafness.

Still, questions surrounding the death at the age of 56 of the revered pianist and composer have lingered, with scholars blaming his alcohol consumption or lead poisoning.

Now, a new study on Beethoven’s hair has found that the renowned pianist had a high genetic risk of liver disease that contributed to his death, New Scientist reported.

Scientists analyzed DNA from five locks of hair that originally came from Beethoven’s head. Their findings unveiled a number of fascinating details about him, including his family history.

Beethoven had a predisposition for liver disease. The team explained that while this risk is benign in most people, the composer’s heavy drinking potentially increased the likelihood that he developed the condition.

The study also found evidence of a hepatitis B infection, a virus than can also cause liver damage.

But researchers couldn’t determine the genetic factors that led to Beethoven’s gastrointestinal problems and his deafness. The musician began losing his hearing in his 20s – just as he was starting to become famous – and became almost completely deaf in his mid-40s.

Still, the analysis also showed that Beethoven was not genetically related to others in his family line, according to the New York Times.

His Y chromosome DNA differs from that of five living members of the Van Beethoven patrilineage who live in Belgium today and share a 16th-century ancestor with the composer.

This implies that there was an extramarital affair in Beethoven’s direct paternal line.

This story originally appeared in the March 28, 2023 newsletter, The Forever Search.